Portal:Toxic Sludge/Breaking News

Excerpt from Mitch Anderson of the San Francisco Chronicle, "Sewage Sludge, Celebrities and School Gardens," April 26, 2011:

". . . At this risk of being formulaic, Kellogg is the controversial villain of the story. It appears that Kellogg is using sewage sludge, purchased from the city of Los Angeles, in 70% of its fertilizers, while all the while branding them as 'natural & organic.' The promotional language on their website says: 'The cornerstone to our success, stability, and integrity is our commitment to providing organic gardeners with products you can trust.'

"Sewage sludge is not just treated human waste (which is gross enough, but apparently safe); it also contains hazardous contaminants drawn from sewer water by sewage treatments plants, including industrial solvents and chemicals, heavy metals, medical wastes, flame retardants and PCBs. There are many potential health hazards related to exposure to sewage sludge (though the science is limited – a definite boon to the sewage sludge industry), including neurological damage, cancer, meningitis, fever, respiratory illness, roundworm, hookworm . . . the list goes on.

"Kathy Kellogg Johnson is the Chief Sustainability Officer for Kellogg Garden Products, and is also, importantly, on EMA’s corporate advisory board. EMA has formed an alliance with Kellogg Garden Products as part of the School Gardens Project. According to EMA’s website: “Kellogg Garden Products has generously pledged to donate soil, fertilizer and compost to each of the partner gardens. EMA will directly support a number of school gardens through funding and celebrity mentoring via EMA's Young Hollywood Board.”

"And so it appears that children in LA are now gardening with toxic sewage sludge, and unaware of the scandal, the celebrities are promoting the project.

"Enter the environmentalists. The Food Rights Network, a project of the The Center for Media and Democracy, is running a national campaign with a fairly straightforward and reasonable message: sewage sludge is toxic and should not be branded as organic fertilizer, nor should it be used to grow food with, and very obviously, school children should not be digging around in it to grow zucchini and cilantro.

"The environmentalists have informed Debbie Levin, the President of the Environmental Media Association of the hazards of Kellogg’s “organic” fertilizer, essentially saying: please don’t kill the messenger, but sewage sludge is toxic and your worthy School Gardens Project is potentially poisoning the children you are trying to help. In an email response to the Food Rights Network, Ms. Levin said: “The EMA School Garden Program has never claimed to be “organic” and that EMA does “not claim to work with only 100% organic and or sustainable corporations.” . . ..

More information about the Environmental Media Association's claim that its organic school gardens were never claimed to be organic, click  here.

See also, Josh Harkinson, Mother Jones "Is Your Organic Compost Sewage Sludge?" (April 27, 2011): http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/04/your-organic-compost-really-sewage-sludge-rosario-dawson-kellogg-amend